


Come On, Come Back

by emilyzewizard



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Bella's in a dark place, Comforting Dwalin, Friendship, Gen, believe it or not, this hurt so bad while writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 13:38:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3070244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyzewizard/pseuds/emilyzewizard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bella Baggins had seen it all. But she didn't want to. She wanted to unsee it all. She didn't want to die. She just wanted everyone to live. Don't we all?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come On, Come Back

Left by the ebbing tide of battle/ On the field of Austerlitz/ The girl soldier Vaudevue sits/ Her fingers tap the ground, she is alone.

She has seen him in his greatest moment of triumph, when the mountain had been reclaimed after 170 years. But she has also seen his darkest moments as well. The maddened look in his eyes would follow her to the grave, the moment he threatened to throw her off the battlements forever engrained in her mind. What she did not expect was to see the great Thorin Oakenshield in his last minutes, lying on the ground in her arms, begging her forgiveness for all he had done to her. She had forgiven him to what he had done as soon as he had done them. He was not in control of his mind then. It was a feeling she was beginning to understand. 

She had watched the fight with Azog, not quite sure of what would happen. Both seemed as experienced as the other, both driven by the same thing. Hatred. Pure, unadulterated hatred. That was the only thing they had common ground in. She watched Azog's blade go through Thorin's foot, and she saw it go through his chest. She screamed. The sound escaped her long before she realised what she had done. Both men looked up to see the hobbit watching their fight to the death. Azog sneered at Bella. He died with the very same look on his face, Thorin's sword going through his chest, returning the favour that had earlier been given to him. Thorin looked up one last time to Bella, to see her running towards him, before collapsing on his knees, onto the cold ice. Bella reached him just as he fell backwards, managing to prevent his head hitting the hard ice. Bella doubted that it would have made much difference. Stupid Durin's and their thick skulls. 

Bella didn't remember much after that. She blocked the memories out, as a way of denying that Thorin had ever died. It was a blur. She watched the company one by one as they found the body of their dead leader, the one who had taken them this far, only to fall at the final hurdle. That thought hurt. She watched them all fall apart. She watched as they all noticed her, in a corner far away from Thorin's body. She looked up to them as they all stood over her, and she joined in with their sobs, all mourning those who had special places in their hearts, and who died much too long, before their lives had even begun. She joined them in the memories they all shared. 

"Burglar? Looks more like a greengrocer. Surely you cannot mean for us to take this gentle hobbit on our adventure with us? Especially as she is female"  
"I have never been so wrong"  
"You carried it all this way? A simple acorn?"  
"TRAITOR!"  
"I have never been so wrong"

They all came flooding back to Bella as she let out a sob, and stumbled away from the group. They didn't notice her as she moved towards the shattered ice where Azog had fallen in, already plotting his next move to end Thorin. They didn't notice her. All except one. 'The water would be deathly cold' she mused. It would kill her. But Bella did not want to die. What Bella wanted was to be rid of these memories. To wake up and know that it was all a bad nightmare. That the blood on her clothes was fake, that the throbbing in her head was just that, in her head. She needed to be woken up. 

So she jumped. 

The water was a thousand, a million icicles, all stabbing her and dragging her down, pulling her deeper and deeper. Her limbs were seizing up already, and Bella began to panic. She never wanted this. She tried to make herself float upwards, but her brain was slowly beginning to shut down, her muscles getting weaker. 

The hands that reached down to her were unexpected. Even more so that the hands belonged to Dwalin. Dwalin who had shown up at her door that night, and started it all off, the first one. Dwalin who had taught her to use her weapon, and sent her to bed many a night with aching muscles. Dwalin, who had stood by and said nothing when Thorin was at the height of his madness close to throwing her off the mountain. 

Dwalin. Who looked positively terrifying. Who had a heart of gold. Who would die for you once you earnt his loyalty. Who's arms were strong and welcoming, even covered in Orc blood and the blood of so many other. The company were around them, watching their broken burglar in concern. They watched as she sat in Dwalin's arms, shivering from the water, sobbing and thinking of those lost, whispering "Come on, come back"

 

Vaudevue/ In the swift and subtle current's close embrace/ Sleeps on, stirs not, hears not the familiar tune/ Favourite of all the troops of all the armies/ Favourite of Vaudevue/ For she had sung it too/ Marching to Austerlitz,/ 'Come on, come back'.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, thank you for reading this! I know it is quite dark at a few points, but know now, Bella is not suicidal, she just doesn't want to acknowledge that all of these people that she loved have died, she just wanted to kid herself into believing it was all a nightmare. I wish Bella, I wish. Inspiration for this came from the poem Come On, Come Back by Stevie Smith. If you read it, you can see why I wrote this, because the ideas fit. However, things don't end quite as well for Vaudevue as they do for Bella. The poem makes me sad every time I read it. I had the idea of Dwalin being th one to rescue and hold Bella because he was the one to arrive first, I felt like I had to bring the relationship of the two to a full circle. There was just something about those two together that I like. This probably isn't some of my best work, but I'm proud of it. I hope you like it. Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. (Regardless of whether it is already 2015 where you are or if you are still in 2014, like me)


End file.
